Dec 4th News Conference |
Dec 4th News Conference |
Dec 3 2008, 08:58 PM
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14433 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/H...MSL_Update.html
From the wording of this announcement, MSL is clearly still on, which is a good thing. We'll have to wait and see. Doug |
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Dec 5 2008, 12:58 AM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Hmm. You know, if (a big if indeed, I know) the MERs are still doing their thing in 2012, can we in a worst-case scenario of being down to one relay orbiter still get max data return from three rovers?
The MERs are on opposite hemispheres, of course, but MSL's gonna be somewhere in between them. The surviving orbiter's transceiver would have to work pretty hard; does it have a duty cycle? Might be difficult to select an optimal orbital plane to maximize coverage as well. Just curious to know if any modeling of such a contingency situation has been done. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Dec 5 2008, 03:52 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2517 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
Can we in a worst-case scenario of being down to one relay orbiter still get max data return from three rovers?... Might be difficult to select an optimal orbital plane to maximize coverage as well. Changing planes is expensive in delta-v and unlikely to be done unless needed to cover the MSL EDL. Having three rovers to service given the relatively low UHF rates that MER can use shouldn't really be very stressing if MRO is the relay. The return from two MERs is lost in the noise of what we expect to get from MSL. If Odyssey were the relay, it would be more constrained, and you might see the MERs using more DTE than they do now, depending on their condition in this scenario. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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